‘Game Of Thrones’ Sequels Not Coming To HBO Until At Least 2020?

Fans will still not be ready to say their goodbyes to “Game of Thrones” after the current season and the final unscheduled one come to their inevitable conclusions, but those hoping to pick up with the world of Westeros, and possibly other important characters in that Universe, may need to wait a long time for the promised sequel shows.

During a panel at the Television Critics Association press tour, HBO programming president Casey Bloys admitted that the planned spin-off shows, none of which currently include characters from “Game of Thrones” itself, won’t be coming for a while, as the network is solely focused on the final seasons of the current show.

Read: Keisha Castle-Hughes Reflects On Playing Obara Sand

“The number one priority in all of this is the final season of ‘Game of Thrones,’” he said. “I don’t want to do anything with a spinoff or anything that detracts or distracts from that.”

“What I don’t want is the attention to be drawn from the final season, which I think is going to be epic and amazing. I think it’s best to separate it,” he added.

He also revealed that it is currently unclear if the final season of the show would air in 2018, as it comes down to how much time is needed for production on the final episodes. If necessary, Bloys hinted that the final season of the show could be pushed back to be as late as 2019, news that would likely hit fans of the show hard, after the current season was already pushed back from a usual April start to July, and shortened to just seven episodes.

“It’s a big season, and as with all of the seasons, they’re very complicated so they’re getting a sense of how long it’s going to take them to shoot this,” Bloys said. “So I don’t have the answer yet, but they’re working on it.”

As for what that means in regards to the spin-off shows, Bloys said it would be “at least a year” before viewers would see anything else after the series finale, meaning that those could be pushed off to air as late as 2020.

Read: Is Daenerys Going To Die On “Game Of Thrones?”

However, while the news about the final season of “Game of Thrones,” as well as the anticipated spin-offs may be devastating for fans, it may seem worth it in the end. While Season 7 was delayed because filming needed to take place during a time of year where outside conditions matched the Winter timeline and climate on the show, the first two episodes haven’t failed to produce some quality moments thus far.

Among the biggest moments of the season thus far were Daenerys’ (Emilia Clarke) arrival at Dragonstone in the first episode, Arya’s (Maisie Williams) revenge for the Red Wedding, and Euron’s ( Pilou Asbæk) brutal attack on the Iron fleet that ended with Theon (Alfie Allen) abandoning ship and jumping in the water, Obara Sand (Keisha Castle-Hughes) and Nymeria Sand (Jessica Henwick) brutally murdered, and Yara (Gemma Whalen), Ellaria (Indira Varma) and Tyene Sand (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers) captured.

The first two episodes also saw some big reunions. Arya was reunited briefly with both her direwolf Nymeria and her old friend Hot Pie[Ben Hawkey]), as well as big first meetings, with Sam (John Bradley) meeting Jorah (Iain Glen)at the Citadel and working to cure his Greyscale.

Episode 3 is set to include one of the biggest meetings to date on the series, with Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys coming face-to-face for the very first time.

“Game of Thrones” airs Sundays at 9 p.m. EDT on HBO.